Deputy Antonio “Tony”
Hinostroza, 45, who died in a solo vehicle crash near Riverbank in route to an
emergency call on Sunday evening, began his law enforcement career as a Ceres
Police explorer.

Deputy Hinostroza was
responding to assist Riverbank Police Services deputies on a vehicle pursuit
when he collided with a power pole at the intersection of Terminal Avenue and
Claribel Road just before 10 p.m.
A 19-year veteran with the Stanislaus County
Sheriff’s Department, Hinostroza was a Police Explorer for Ceres Police
Department from 1990 until 1992 before he enlisted in the Marine Corps. After
he left the service in 1996 he worked as a reserve police officer and
dispatcher for the city of Waterford before being hired by then-Sheriff Les
Weidman. He became a deputy sheriff in January 1999 and was most recently
assigned to the patrol division. During his 19-year career, Deputy Hinostroza
served as a patrol deputy, police canine handler, gang unit detective, SWAT
team member, and field training officer.

Hinostroza leaves
behind one adult son.
According to a press release issued by the
department, at 9:48 p.m., Riverbank Police Services deputies were dispatched to
Oakdale and Patterson roads near Riverbank for a report of a driver of a
silver-colored Cadillac Escalade passed out behind the wheel. Deputies found
the car and the driver sped off, leading deputies on a pursuit. Deputies
deployed spike strips to disable the Escalade at Fine Avenue and Cambridge
Court in Modesto. The driver fled from the vehicle and when he began fighting
deputies they deployed a bean bag round to subdue him and take him into
custody.
Meanwhile, dispatchers began taking 911 calls
about a Sheriff’s Department patrol car that crashed into a utility pole at
Terminal Avenue and Claribel Road. Emergency personnel quickly arrived on scene
and attempted to save Deputy Hinostroza, but he died at the scene.

The driver of the Escalade, Jonathan Carrillo-Gonzalez, 30, of Modesto, was
arrested for driving under the influence, felony evasion, and resisting arrest.
His license to drive had been suspended in June for DUI and he has at least
three prior convictions for DUI in the past nine years.
The California Highway Patrol is investigating
the cause of the crash.

This is the second
time in 19 months that a Stanislaus County deputy has died in a solo crash. On
May 13, 2017 Deputy Jason Garner, 41, and Community Service Officer
Raschel Johnson were killed when the car he was driving crashed into a tire
shop at Crows Landing Road and Seventh Street. The deputy was not rolling to an
emergency but investigators determined that he was traveling at 89 mph when he
lost control. The investigation into that crash, which took a lengthy 14
months, concluded that Garner suffered an undisclosed health-related condition
that “rendered him incapable of cognitively controlling a motor vehicle.”